Restaurant Accounting: Bookkeeping Tips and More

With running a restaurant business, you’ve got a lot on your plate. Messing with spreadsheets to forecast sales and generate budgets shouldn’t be one of those items. As your restaurant bookkeeper, Hone is already responsible for recording your data. This historical data is then used to develop sales projections and budgets for costs and expenses. You can create custom sales targets based on your knowledge about future events or change budgets to set tighter targets.

On the other hand, missing a declaration of correct revenue can lead to tax penalties and more. Here are a few useful tips to keep your restaurant bookkeeping organized. Restaurant operations have a large volume of transactions and reconciling is a time taking and complex process. However, reconciling your accounts is the only way to ensure that you have recorded all your financial transactions. As part of the reconciling exercise, you should reconcile your records with bank statements, credit cards, loans, lines of credit, payroll liabilities, etc.

Automate restaurant bookkeeping with AP automation

Knowing what items are selling can also help restaurants budget better. Kevin Johnston writes for Ameriprise Financial, the Rutgers University MBA Program and Evan Carmichael. Armed with that information, you can calculate the most important indicators of your restaurant's financial health. Your first accounting decision is how directly you'll be involved. As "chief cook and bottle-washer," you'll keep the books yourself because there's no one else to do it. Getting the recommendations of other successful restaurateurs can help you determine if you’re prepared to handle accounting issues on your own, or whether you should consider hiring an outside firm.

The exercise helps track erroneous deposits, missing invoices, or sales anomalies. Plate IQ is our choice for the best-automated restaurant accounting software because it automates processes https://adprun.net/what-does-my-accountant-need-to-file-business/ for the restaurant owner so they can focus on other tasks. Using Plate IQ, restaurant owners, and managers can automate invoices and accounts payable systems all on one platform.

Reconcile Your Bookkeeping with your Bank Accounts Frequently

Accounting software takes a lot of guesswork out of the process, and tracking things digitally will save copious amounts of time. When you have grown to the point where it is no longer feasible for you as the owner to keep the books, you need to know what to look for in a bookkeeper or bookkeeping service. You have to have accurate books on a daily basis to know how must staff you need (based on sales), how much cash you have to order liquor and food and how well your promotions are doing. Do some research before picking an accounting software for your restaurant. Depending on the software, you can do other things such as manage payroll, sales reports, and methods of payment. Practicing thorough restaurant accounting is crucial, but it can be overwhelming to think of managing your own books and records at first.

• Prime costs include expenses such as beverages, ingredients, payroll, taxes, benefits, and more.
• DAVO was created in 2001 as a way to remedy pain points between the payee and the payor.
• We offer CFO advisory and bookkeeping services to help business owners get their books in order, get more time back, and get the peace of mind they need that their numbers are handled.
• Food costs refer to the cost of preparing a menu item divided by the total revenue earned from the item.
• Running a restaurant isn't cheap, and most restaurateurs will require a loan at some point.
• It was founded in 2006 in New Zealand and is used around the world.

Keeping tabs on your food costs will help you set menu prices and maximize profits. Food costs depend on the type of restaurant, but normally are around 28-35% or revenue. Put simply, prime costs is the sum of your restaurant’s costs to sell its food, drinks and products—your COGS as mentioned above—plus the labor costs of your salaried and casual staff. Industry averages suggest your prime costs should be between 55% and 60%. You should reconcile bank accounts, credit cards, loans, lines of credit, and payroll liabilities.

Controllable cost report

You can use revenue reports as a financial projection tool to anticipate how much revenue you’ll generate in the future. Because of this, they require specific accounting Restaurant Accounting: A Step by Step Guide methods and benchmarks that wouldn’t apply to, say, a retail store. Restaurant accountants understand how to compile data accurately and meaningfully.

• The more you can monitor the financial health of your restaurant, the better.
• He has written hundreds of business-related articles for sites including Zacks.com, Chron.com, Vitamix.com, Bizfluent and GoBankingRates and many others.
• If the restaurant is going to make a go of it, the first thing a restaurant accountant should do is work with the owner to have a business strategy and budget in place.
• The right bookkeeper for your restaurant will be familiar with FOH and BOH operations and how to optimize your books for your business.
• With everything in one place, Hone makes it easy to pay your bills, track your expenses, and make the best decisions for your restaurant.
• If you want to see which plan best suits your needs, you can contact Restaurant365 directly via live chat, email, or phone.
• It offers a free option with limited features and paid plans that include more robust features.

A bookkeeper can set up the processes and systems that lay a foundation for future growth, and keep a careful eye on your ongoing expenses, revenue, and budget. They can give you the tools and reports you need to make informed financial decisions about your business, and respond quickly to market changes. At NEXT, we offer customizable, affordable insurance for food and beverage businesses to keep your cash flow healthy. We’re fully online, so restaurateurs get a quote, choose a policy and get their certificate of insurance in a process that could take less than 10 minutes.